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Lee Koepke
04-30-2011, 8:41 AM
I am experiencing some upper back - lower neck issues. Waiting on my docs review of my x-rays to see if its anything MORE than a simple pinched nerve.

Gotta say, its rather disheartening to think how this may affect my woodworking hobby. I am sure I am not the only one, but how do others deal with this.

Belinda Barfield
04-30-2011, 8:51 AM
I don't have an answer for you but I hope you heal quickly and completely.

Charlie Reals
04-30-2011, 9:01 AM
My Chiropractor and massage therapist deal with my back quite nicely and I have had back problems for years. They wanted to do surgery 30 years ago. No way

Lee Koepke
04-30-2011, 9:12 AM
Not even sure its is a REAL issue, but the initial signs arent looking positive. Its frustrating for me because I do all the stuff by myself, I dont usually get help with things. I have a craft show next week, and another at the end of the month too.

Rich Engelhardt
04-30-2011, 9:14 AM
Work in small spurts - wear a wrap around elastic back brace - make it a point to sit down often in a chair or on a stool w/good back support (I have a Craftsman "bar stool" type stool that's great! Got it on a Black Friday sale for $49) - alternate between regular bi-foclas and reading glasses (the strain on neck muscles by tilting my head back creeps up on me...) - know when to call it quits before things start to get too far along.

The last is the hardest since I'm always pushing some sort of deadline or "robbing Peter to pay Paul" timewise. Today is a perfect example.
I have a bunch of wooden planters I need to get put together.

I also have to go work on a rental (the tenants always make it a point to tell us they like to "sleep in" on the weekends and prefer us to come sometime after noon. We compromise with them and make it 10:30-ish...day's half over by that time,,,,,)
I also have to get to the bank to see who bounced a rent check...
Squeeze in a trip to the HFH Restore to see if by some minor miracle they might have one of those 50 year old kitchen exhaust fans for - you guessed it - one of the rentals.
The wife wants me to finish an endless list of "stuff"....good thing she's become a master @ painting & ruunning a bead of caulk becuase she's got that lined up for - one of the rentals...

BTW - did I also mention that stress can cause a lot of those upper back/lower neck pains? ;)

LOL! I'll address those tomorrow when we visit her relatives for our Sundday afternoon beer bash..
She calls it visiting her family, BTW. ;)
I call it a good excuse to bend my elbow. :D

Charlie Reals
04-30-2011, 9:20 AM
Not even sure its is a REAL issue, but the initial signs arent looking positive. Its frustrating for me because I do all the stuff by myself, I dont usually get help with things. I have a craft show next week, and another at the end of the month too.
It's a real issue Lee and it probably wont get better with age lol. As Rich said stress causes a lot of it butt as you get older uncle Arthuritus starts taking it's toll sometimes.

Jim Koepke
04-30-2011, 11:46 AM
Lee,

My heart and prayers go out to you.

I have had problems with such pains for years. Then again, some of my health providers have been indispensable in their advise.

Some of my history, when I was in my early twenties, I had a bad bicycle accident, being hit by a truck. Then within a few years another accident where I took a bad spill that messed up my right shoulder.

When I was about 8, my right hand took a rather nasty cut at the base of my thumb. It was this that caused me to train my left hand to do things it had not done before. My right hand still bothers me at times and uncle Arthur Itis has checked into one of the thumb joints.

Much of it had to do with prevention. Things like how to use a pillow to support the neck and head. Ways to compensate with the pain. The limits of my arm movement are known and I know how to get around it. I also know if a lot of wood is being ripped by hand and my shoulder feels a little tired, it is time to stop and rest or maybe to do something else for awhile. My left hand sawing is not too bad either.

So now, I am still suffering bouts of pain, but it is manageable. I did have a cortisone shot into my shoulder about a year ago that has given some relief.

Finding different ways to grip planes, saws, chisels and other tools has kept me from having to give up on using them.

So even though it was a dark cloud for that summer more than 50 years ago, in the long run, it has taught me a lot about fighting through the obstacles.

If you can get treatment from a good physical therapist, they will hopefully be able help you find the cause and the cure to help you get back to being yourself.

God bless and good luck,

jtk

Kent A Bathurst
04-30-2011, 1:11 PM
........how do others deal with this.

Highland single malt and a book.

mickey cassiba
04-30-2011, 1:24 PM
Highland single malt and a book.

You high class guys...I swear. Couple beers and a boring movie does it for me!:D

Kent A Bathurst
04-30-2011, 4:59 PM
You high class guys...I swear. Couple beers and a boring movie does it for me!:D


I'd do that also if I lived in Texas, Mickey - some kinda regulation or something isn't it?

A girl in the backseat, asleep in her bare feet, and a trunk fulla Lone Star and Pearl beer with Robert Earl Keen on the stero would be even better, though, I'd think. :p :p

Larry Frank
04-30-2011, 10:19 PM
Good luck with your back and neck. In general, xrays do not show a lot with spinal problems unless it is bad. If you continue to have problems, you will end up getting an MRI which is much more likely to help determine the cause. There is no one simple answer or cure as there are so many things that can cause the pain. What helps one person may not help another one. A good doctor is extremely important in figuring out what is your problem and the best course of treatment. In any case, there are many different things that a good doctor can try to alleviate the issues.

I have significant lower back and neck issues but with my doctor, I have learned to live with them and continue to do woodworking and most other things. I am thankful that I have an extremely good doctor who helps me with the pain issues. I would suggest that you make certain that the doctor you see has a lot of experience dealing with your specific problem and if he does not, you might want to find another one.

Lee Koepke
05-01-2011, 7:36 AM
Thanks for all the replies! Its helpful just to talk about it....

Larry, we do have a great group of orthopaedic surgeons here in town (we just built a building for a new spinal clinic too !! ) My family doctor told me about the same thing, he gave me a steroid shot to give me a good start on some inflammation relief until we decide what's next. I am just not used to something that 'takes some time' to work though ...

Yesterday I made some changes that seemed to help me last night ...

- raised my lathe up about 6", its now slightly higher than my relaxed elbow, and I dont have to bend my head down as much to see my work
- stood on double layers of my (cheapy) foam rubber floor mats
- took alot more breaks than usual (except for the last hour .. I was on a roll!)
- used a stool to sit on while sanding (I was working on a vase, bowl, and a couple of pens)

that all seemed to help a bit when I woke up this morning.

thanks for all your support -- Oh, and Kent --- I prefer a good bourbon or very very cold beers, I had a couple of the latter last night, too.

Phil Thien
05-01-2011, 7:55 AM
Like Charlie Reals, I was a candidate for back surgery. In my case, it was about sixteen years ago. I had fallen off a chair (of all things) and wiped-out my back.

I had seen a neurologist, and he ordered an MRI and said I needed to go to a back surgeon.

Right around this time my general practitioner changed and he said he had strong reservations about back surgery. He had seen many a failed procedures. And he had many patients that had undergone multiple back surgeries with little to no relief, and sometimes it made things worse.

He brought in an orthopedic surgeon from the practice next door (he was an orth but didn't do backs), and that surgeon confirmed that back surgeries were never simple and should be avoided if possible. The orthopedic surgeon said that if I could exercise and endure the pain, I may get a better outcome than having surgery.

To cement their message, they sent me to get a book (forget the name) by two neurosurgeons that worked primarily with patients that had undergone back surgeries. The book's message was the same: Watch out for guys eager to work on your back. Exercise and retraining can go a long way.

I had flare-ups, and I still have nerve damage that the surgery probably wouldn't have helped with anyhow, but my recovery has (I'd say) been 95%. And over the years, I've meet many people that have had multiple back surgeries with inferior outcomes.

I do know this: In every town, there are always multiple back surgeons. There are almost always one or two that are superstars. The guys that any doctor would go to if they truly knew back surgery was the only way to correct a problem. If you are going to get surgery, perform a survey by asking as many doctors and nurses who they would use, and you will find your local superstars. Even with a referral, it may take 6-10 weeks to get into one of these guys. It is worth the wait.

Jay Jolliffe
05-01-2011, 8:24 AM
I've had a bad back for about 30 yrs from a motorcycle accident. Alcohol & speed doesn't mix on a bike. From that accident I ended up with two partially crushed vertebrates. I did the route of back therapy & chiropractors. They made it better but I had to watch the way I picked up something or turned. After going through the pain & body numbing drugs for about 8 yrs I met my soon to be come wife. She was using alternative medicine at the time & I wasn't really into it at the time. Well after going back to the chiropractor & she couldn't help this time I gave the alternative medicine a try. I had a phone appointment with a homeopathic doctor she was seeing & after talking about an hour & was asked many questions he had a remedy for me. He sent it out, I got it in a few days. I was told to take it for three days two times a day. Me being the skeptic I was I didn't think it would work. I thought how could a tiny pill take away all the pain I had. I'll tell you after taking it for two days I was pain free & could walk again without pain.....Now I'm a believer. Every time the pain comes back from me doing stupid things I take the little pills & no more pain .

Kent A Bathurst
05-01-2011, 9:13 AM
..........
Yesterday I made some changes that seemed to help me last night ...

- raised my lathe up about 6", its now slightly higher than my relaxed elbow, and I dont have to bend my head down as much to see my work
- stood on double layers of my (cheapy) foam rubber floor mats
- took alot more breaks than usual (except for the last hour .. I was on a roll!)
- used a stool to sit on while sanding (I was working on a vase, bowl, and a couple of pens)

that all seemed to help a bit when I woke up this morning.

thanks for all your support -- Oh, and Kent --- I prefer a good bourbon or very very cold beers, I had a couple of the latter last night, too.

Lee - You're on a roll here. The lathe height and the floor mats are classic ergonomics moves, and at the risk of being too obvious...research the basic principles of ergonomics - there has to be plenty of info available. Many small improvements are easy and cheap to do, and they can all make some level of contribution - simply getting your arms and neck/head into a better position can work wonders. Also - your breaks are on the right track - I don't know the details of things you work on, but perhaps you can set up a rotation of a few tasks that use different muscle sets and different body positions. Work at each for maybe 30 minutes in a cycle. This means you would have three "things" at various in-process stages, and just keep switching.

The only big failing in the [voluminous] ergonomics literature I have read - they just don't seem to acknowledge the proven benefits of the single malt or the bourbon.

Bet of luck;

Kent

Charles McKinley
05-03-2011, 10:51 PM
Hi Lee,

Look for a copy of "Pushing Yourself to Power" at the library if you want to look at it before you buy it http://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Yourself-Power-Ultimate-Transformation/dp/1932458018

I do the warm up exercises every day when I hurt then get lazy when I'm feeling better slack off then have to get back to them.

What I like about them is that they can be done anywhere with no special equuipment and it keeps me able to move.

Avoid surgery if at all possible. I hope you are feeling better soon.

mickey cassiba
05-10-2011, 1:28 AM
I'd do that also if I lived in Texas, Mickey - some kinda regulation or something isn't it?

A girl in the backseat, asleep in her bare feet, and a trunk fulla Lone Star and Pearl beer with Robert Earl Keen on the stero would be even better, though, I'd think. :p :p
Sorry I missed that Kent! Mind was elsewhere(the back seat p'raps?)Can't stand Lone Star...Bud guy through and through...and ZZ Top does it for me, although Mancini seems to get more girls:cool: